


Rage, Rage Against the Dying of the Light

by JonesyGray



Category: The Amazing Spider-Man (Movies - Webb), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Bruce Banner Needs a Hug, Everyone Needs A Hug, Gen, I'm Sorry, Inspired by Poetry, POV Steve Rogers, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Protective Tony Stark, The Author Regrets Everything, Thor (Marvel) is a Good Bro, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2020-02-26 01:38:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18713887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JonesyGray/pseuds/JonesyGray
Summary: "Do not go gentle into that good night,Old age should burn and rave at close of day;Rage, rage against the dying of the light."Five men burning at the end of it all.





	Rage, Rage Against the Dying of the Light

**Do not go gentle into that good night,**  
**Old age should burn and rave at close of day;**  
**Rage, rage against the dying of the light.**

Thanos was _here._  
On Earth.  
Before them, five years later from 2014 with all of his armies and all of his strength and all of their rage. Tony's heart seemed to stop abruptly while also pounding a million miles a minute. Yet, for once, his hands didn't shake. His mind cast to Pepper, her strawberry-gold locks shining in the sun. Hah, strawberries. He finally remembered she was allergic. To Morgan, too much like him but with all the best parts of Pepper and so full of love. _"I love you 3000,"_ the last words they exchanged, no regrets there.  
The sky was darkening, Thor bringing forth the thunder and lightning. Tony realized the man looked more alive than he had since their reunion. So did Cap. Men of war, built in it, burnt and honed to their sharpest point by blood and bodies.  
If Tony had a mirror, he would have been startled to see the same in himself. He had felt old, before. Ancient and stretched thin. But now- he burned. He was _alive._

 **Though wise men at their end know dark is right,**  
**Because their words had forked no lightning they**  
**Do not go gentle into that good night.**

"-Back to me."  
_Back to me._  
Back to _me._  
The words rattled in Thor's head, first the clanging of a lead bell. Dolorous, heavy, toxic. Then, like the brightest of lightning, they began to sing, smelling of ozone.  
Of power.  
For the first time in five years, he feels _power._ He feels his hatred lancing his wounds instead of festering them.  
He rages.  
Mjolnir, warm and solid in one hand, singing to him. Stormbreaker, baying for blood.  
It is time. 

**Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright**  
**Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,**  
**Rage, rage against the dying of the light.**

Steven Grant Rogers has always been a hard man.  
Good, he hoped, loving to his friends and family as much as he could. All the serum had done was give him a way up and out of the frail life he'd been doomed to lead before.  
Now, he's faced with the end. And Steven Grant Rogers realizes that he is a hard man, facing harder choices. The lives of everyone, literally everyone, is on the line. He thinks of the life he could have had. Should have had, but it was stolen in ice. Now he's faced with fire that will consume everything if they fail.  
It's the end, but he's never felt more _alive._

**Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,**  
**And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,**  
**Do not go gentle into that good night.**

Bruce has never felt so much _agony._ His arm is a burning coal, yes, but his soul- it's wrenched, almost in two, ragged at the edges. They smell of blood and gunpowder and herbal shampoo and the curve of her lips. But he has bigger problems. He still has loved ones and comrades to save. He'd mourned her before she was gone, but now he could do nothing but go on. Or her being gone meant nothing.  
Thanos would pay, if it took everything in each of them.  
If it took his soul tearing again. 

**Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight**  
**Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,**  
**Rage, rage against the dying of the light.**

Tony caught Stephen Strange's eye and _knew._ His rage was snuffed. Then it burned brighter.  
He knew.  
_Peter._ He just got Peter back.  
_Morgan._ She's only four.  
_Pepper._ His Pepper.  
He raged.  
This end licked at his insides like the flames engulfing the battlefield. He felt the forever he would never see screaming for salvation. He knew. He knew and he would do so.  
For Peter.  
For Morgan.  
For Pepper.  
_For all of them._

 **And you, my father, there on the sad height,**  
**Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.**  
**Do not go gentle into that good night.**  
**Rage, rage against the dying of the light.**

Peter _screamed._  
He screamed and screamed and raged inside his soul, feeling it tear. He begged for Tony to stay. To stay with him. To stay _for_ him. The need to tear it all apart contrasted the tenderness of his touches, begging Tony to see him. Begging him to come back.  
And the rage remained.  
Through the aftermath.  
Through the cleanup.  
Through the funeral. 

Long after the funeral, he stood quietly next to the lake. Barely a breath, he stared into its depths and offered supplication, far too late. _"Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light."_

**Author's Note:**

> I _hate_ Endgame. I hate that it rattles in my head and makes me feel feelings. I recognize the canon has made a decision, but as it is a stupid-ass decision, I have elected to ignore it. Mostly. Unless there's shit like this in my brain.  
> Feel free to follow me on Tumblr: Username no-goddamn-cilantro
> 
> Poem is "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" by Dylan Thomas.


End file.
